{"id":1513,"date":"2016-10-09T17:53:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T17:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/activistmedia\/?p=1513"},"modified":"2017-01-24T21:44:23","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T21:44:23","slug":"words-and-actions-donald-trump-rape-culture-and-hashtag-feminism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/activistmedia\/2016\/10\/words-and-actions-donald-trump-rape-culture-and-hashtag-feminism\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWords and actions\u201d: Donald Trump, Rape Culture, and Hashtag Feminism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosemary Clark<\/a><\/p>\n

\"pastedgraphic-1\"<\/p>\n

Donald Trump<\/strong>: I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn\u2019t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she\u2019s now got the big phony tits and everything. She\u2019s totally changed her look\u2026I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I\u2019m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It\u2019s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don\u2019t even wait. And when you\u2019re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything\u2026 Grab \u2019em by the pussy. You can do anything<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When, late in the afternoon of Friday, October 7, The Washington Post released<\/a> behind-the-scenes footage from a 2005 Access Hollywood taping session featuring Donald Trump, the American electorate witnessed the rehearsal of a ritual now signature to the reality television star\u2019s presidential campaign. Supporters and Trump himself were quick to excuse his objectification of journalist Nancy O\u2019Dell<\/a> and actress Arianne Zucker<\/a> as yet another instance of the Republican nominee\u2019s words not reflecting his actions as a businessman or his potential as the Commander-in-Chief.<\/p>\n

Like all of his previous headline-worthy indiscretions \u2013 mocking <\/a>a reporter with a disability, labeling <\/a>Mexican immigrants as \u201ccriminals\u201d and \u201crapists,\u201d calling <\/a>former Miss Universe Alicia Machado \u201cMiss Piggy\u201d and \u201cMiss Housekeeping,\u201d perpetuating <\/a>the racist birther movement, and on, and on, and on<\/a> \u2013 supporters contend that the eleven-year-old Trump Tapes are just talk, hot air emanating from a hot-blooded man with a hot microphone.<\/p>\n

In the leaked conversation with correspondent Billy Bush, Trump proclaims that, as a \u201cstar,\u201d he is entitled to access women\u2019s bodies whenever and however he wants \u2013 \u201cGrab \u2018em by the pussy,\u201d he says, \u201cYou can do anything.\u201d Trump initially dismissed <\/a>the audio as \u201clocker room banter,\u201d an example of everyday small talk between a couple of straight men, and his supporters backed him up on Twitter under the hashtags #LockerRoomBanter<\/a> and #LockerRoomTalk<\/a>, normalizing Trump\u2019s description of sexual coercion as pompous but harmless \u201cboys will be boys\u201d machismo.<\/p>\n

\n

Either you’re strong enough to not care or weak enough to get offended. #lockerroomtalk<\/a> #11yearsago<\/a> #liberalsaredesperate<\/a> #trump2016<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Angie Travis (@AngieTravis67) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Women talk about men and men talk about women! #LockerRoomTalk<\/a> is perfectly fine! Stop judging! Stop acting like you’re a saint! #MAGA<\/a> ??<\/p>\n

\u2014 Deplorable Brian (@noblebarnes87) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The #RealIssues<\/a> facing America will not be obscured by #LockerRoomTalk<\/a>; #BillClintonIsRapist<\/a> must be acknowledged. https:\/\/t.co\/jkhVp8W9dx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jack Charles Baer (@WhatsUpBIGBAER) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After several Republican leaders withdrew their support<\/a> of the party\u2019s nominee, Trump released a one-minute-and-thirty-second video apology<\/a> and double-downed on his insistence that his comments have no real significance, that his words are separate from his actions:<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest. We\u2019re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we\u2019re facing today\u2026I\u2019ve said some foolish things, but there\u2019s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his victims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump, in other words, may have said<\/em> some horrendous things about women, but at least he (allegedly<\/a>) hasn\u2019t done<\/em> anything to \u201cactually\u201d harm women.<\/p>\n

That evening, Canadian author and Twitter personality Kelly Oxford made a simple request to her women-followers that would complicate the disconnect the Trump campaign has driven time and again between words and actions:<\/p>\n

\n

Women: tweet me your first assaults. they aren’t just stats. I’ll go first:<\/p>\n

Old man on city bus grabs my “pussy” and smiles at me, I’m 12.<\/p>\n

\u2014 kelly oxford (@kellyoxford) October 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oxford, after recounting the first time she was assaulted, called on women to break their silence, recognize that \u201cthey aren\u2019t just stats,\u201d and reply to her tweet with their own stories of sexual violence. Within hours, Oxford was receiving at least two sexual assault stories per second and her Twitter handle was trending <\/a>across North America. As of 12:00 a.m. EDT on October 9, Oxford had received nearly 10 million responses<\/a> to her initial tweet.<\/p>\n

\n

I am currently receiving 2 sex assault stories per second. Anyone denying rape culture, please look at my timeline now. #notokay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 kelly oxford (@kellyoxford) October 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oxford eventually started the hashtag #NotOkay<\/a>, providing survivors with a more visible platform to connect and share their stories.<\/p>\n

\n

@kellyoxford<\/a> 1st I can recall: 14 & man at the pub library tried to look up my uniform skirt from the bottom bookshelf w\/a mirror. #notokay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 A (dot) Ham (@coolbreeeze_) October 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

I was 13. Dad of the kids I babysat offered to drive me home. I said no. Said he wanted me to be safe. On the drive he felt me up. #notokay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MuffinyMuffinPants (@MuffinyMuffin) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Have had a man “grab” me the way @realDonaldTrump<\/a> BRAGS he does. I did not “let” him. It’s sexual assault, Donald. #notokay<\/a> #ImWithHer<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Cary Gibson (@this1littlebird) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

@kellyoxford<\/a> #NotOkay<\/a> 1st assault: 65-yo neighbor. I was 8.
\n2nd: raped by older brother from 11-15. Last time grabbed: last week. I’m 54.<\/p>\n

\u2014 diana (@thereisnohurry) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

@kellyoxford<\/a> walking home from train and had my ass grabbed by a guy on a bike. People laughed while I cried in anger #notokay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Monkeypox (@monkeypox0104) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Riding to NY with a friend on a Greyhound bus. Man masturbating across from us. Got put off the bus for being too noisy complaining.#notokay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 katspaks (@katspaks) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hashtag\u2019s digitally networked and archived narratives are not only heartbreaking evidence that sexual violence remains a pervasive social injustice, but implicit reminders that the discourse normalizing the objectification of women\u2019s bodies enables the material reality of sexual violence. When sexual assault is dismissed as mere \u201clocker room banter,\u201d the norms that support men\u2019s entitlement to women\u2019s bodies and rationalize gender-based violence as an accepted element of social life are further cemented. As Oxford tweeted, \u201cThis is rape culture. This is what we hear & live.\u201d<\/p>\n

A great<\/a> deal<\/a> of<\/a> social movement research has illuminated the many ways in which social media help streamline the process of organizing and participating in a protest. Today\u2019s activists check Facebook to find out where and when a protest is taking place and use Twitter to mobilize bystanders and counter mainstream media coverage of protest actions. Hashtag campaigns like #NotOkay, however, suggest that social media platforms can also be the very spaces within which protest unfolds. The survivors tweeting under the hashtag may never meet face-to-face to march in the streets or to volunteer for Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign, but their collective action is just as powerful. Far from what some commentators<\/a> have referred to as \u201cslacktivism,\u201d hashtag feminism is a digital form of what Stacey Young, in her 1997 book, Changing the Wor(l)d: Discourse, Politics and the Feminist Movement, calls discursive activism. Hashtag feminism aims to deconstruct dominant discourse and, in its place, promote new interpretive frameworks for understanding and responding to social phenomena. Unlike Trump, feminist hashtag campaigns connect words and actions, underscoring how the ways in which we tend to think and talk about issues like sexual violence directly affect people\u2019s lives and wellbeing. Whereas Trump has repeatedly promulgated degrading discourse about women, feminists have strategically used Twitter\u2019s pithily hashtagged medium to gather support, condemn misogyny, and promote the idea that sexual violence is #NotOkay.<\/p>\n

Twitter, a platform that enables immediate and broad reach and rewards concise but poignant messages, has been an especially forceful tool for discursive activism. In a 2014 essay<\/a> for Feminist Media Studies, Samantha Thrift calls feminist hashtags feminist meme events, or a media event that references not only a current event (in this case, the Trump Tapes), but also becomes a reference point for understanding broader systems of injustice, of which the event might be a symptom (in this case, rape culture). In this way, hashtag feminism harkens back to Civil Rights Era feminists\u2019 declaration that \u201cthe personal is political,\u201d everyday experiences are enmeshed in broader structures of power. #NotOkay, as a feminist meme event, refuses to write off the Trump Tapes as \u201ca distraction from the important issues,\u201d instead shedding light on the deep entanglement between Trump\u2019s \u201clocker room banter\u201d and systems of oppression. Like its predecessors #WhyIStayed<\/a>, #YesAllWomen, and #YouOkSis, #NotOkay pushes up against the discourse feeding the roots of the violence women face in their everyday lives. While it is difficult to draw direct lines of causation, hashtag feminism, the latest tactic in a long tradition of feminist media activism in North America, has shifted the frameworks mainstream media use to report on sexual and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n

\n

The fact that Trump’s comments are being talked about as assault and predatory? You can thank feminists for that. Just saying.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) October 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, hashtag activism is not an inherently progressive tactic, but one whose politics shift depending upon who is sitting on the other side of the screen. While I drafted this post, Trump supporters were still tweeting under #LockerRoomBanter and Twitter trolls were harassing Kelly Oxford. As feminist activists and researchers grappling with the possibilities and limitations of digital platforms, we must take heed of Sarah Banet-Weiser\u2019s warning<\/a> that with popular feminism comes popular misogyny. But, in a sociopolitical context in which one of the country\u2019s two major political parties dismisses feminist critiques of misogynist speech and behavior as little more than censorious \u201cPC culture<\/a>,\u201d activism that exposes the connection between how we talk and who faces violence is more important than ever. Hashtag feminism may be a virtual activism, but its causes and effects are deeply felt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Johnny Silvercloud, You’re Proving Her Point<\/a>, Trump Inauguration 2017, Creative Commons 2.0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rosemary Clark Donald Trump: I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn\u2019t get there. And she was married…. <\/p>\n

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